Eyal Waldman: You cannot turn hostages into a political issue

Eyal Waldman, one of the founders of the Business Forum and the Emergency Forum to Save Foreclosures, has no intention of stopping after the District Labor Court ordered today’s general strike to be suspended. “We will make decisions on a day-to-day basis about how to proceed, but we need to get to a point where a bailout agreement is in place,” he said. “A lot of people turned out today and it was a successful day.”

The court decision on the strike came out sooner than expected

“”The main thing is to rescue the hostages who were alive and killed between Thursday and Friday. These are people who were alive 4 days ago, survived 11 months in captivity, and then were killed because of the lack of an agreement with the hostages.”

But was your protest effective?

“We will judge by results.”

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich claims that you are making the Knesset list and planning to enter politics

“Where is he getting this information from? He has no idea what he is talking about and it is misleading, false and untrue. It is fundamentally unconvincing and out of touch with reality.”

Did the holiday end at 2.30 pm or 6.00 pm an effective tool from your point of view? In the end, it was marked as a political demonstration.

“I don’t know how to turn the hostages into a political issue. The hostages need to be returned – period. We need to come to an agreement with Hamas as soon as possible to bring home as many hostages as we can. I lost. my daughter Danielle (at the Supernova music festival) and yesterday was the only person who got out of the car my daughter was in Almog Serrousi was buried, and then he survived and returned home in a coffin.

Erez Shachar, founder and managing partner of Qumra Venture Capital and one of the leaders of the High-Tech Contingencies Forum, says that high-tech is uniquely mobilized to challenge the bailout deal simply because it is represented. Israel’s population – 11% of the workforce in the economy, and high-tech workers actually make up 20% of the IDF reserve. Many tech offices were closed today and it was an important declaration step.

The strike was suspended amid allegations that it was political. This is what the government claims

“I have nothing to say about the verdict of the court – people like us accept its every verdict as lovers of the rule of law. If the desire to return the hostages to their homes and save their lives is political, then everything is political. Bringing the hostages home is a must. It was not political and this is political. shame it was for the families, not the Kaplan protest.”

What’s your next step, and will the high-tech vacation continue?

“First, tonight we will go to demonstrations in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. Second, I don’t know if we will see companies going on strike – we joined the Histadrut strike as a sign of solidarity, I don’t think it’s effective. only high-tech companies are going on strike, because these companies are not suitable for the local market , but we have plans to continue our activities at the social and national level, to support the families of the hostages, to return the hostages, and to protest not only in the coming days, but in the coming weeks, to close the deal that is on the table and is not closed for political reasons. we will continue to see their actions.”

Globes, Israel business news – en.globes.co.il – published on September 2, 2024.

© Copyright 2024 by Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd.